Nevada Assemblyman Steven Brooks is having a very bad year. First the North Las Vegas Democrat was arrested with a loaded weapon after (ALLEGEDLY!) threatening the life of the Democratic Speaker-elect, Marilyn someone or other. Then he gave a buckwild shirtless interview, with his attorney, Dr. Gonzo, explaining that he wasn't crazy (INSTITUTION) you're the one who'se crazy (INSTITUTION). Then (and we missed this one) he was put in for a psych hold after some mishigas at his grandma's house. And now he has been arrested again, after fighting with both his mom and some cops, whose service revolvers he attempted to grab. It is a good thing he is an elected official and not, say, a random brown person in Los Angeles, or his breathing might have been permanently impaired!

WASHINGTON (AP) — The government says it recovered almost $8 for each dollar it spent investigating health care fraud over the past three years, including a record $4.2 billion last year.

The $7.90 average return on investment is the highest in the 16-year history of the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Program. Since 1997, the program – a joint effort of the departments of Justice and Health and Human Services – has returned more than $23 billion to the Medicare trust funds.

Overall, the Justice Department opened more than 1,100 criminal health care fraud investigations last year involving 2,148 potential defendants. More than 800 defendants were convicted of health care fraud-related crimes during the year and the department opened nearly 900 new civil investigations.

Because of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice are better equipped than they've ever been to combat waste and fraud. And as we've discussed here in the past, healthcare fraud is a massive industry. In the state of Florida, for example, Medicare fraud is bigger than the illegal drug trade. Maybe that's why they elected a Medicare fraudster as their governor. Zing!